Blaze
by tiger002
Summary: The heart is deceitful above all things. When time is of the essence, hesitation can lead to disaster. Although, rushing into the unknown can be even worse.
1. Chapter 1: Overcast Skies

**A/N: Welcome readers to my newest story. I want to thank Woundedhearts for her input with the story and for betaing the first chapter.**

**Chapter 1: Overcast skies.**

I am here, yet not here. I can see, yet it is dark. I can hear, but there is silence. This isn't my life, and yet, I am a part of it. No matter how much I want it to change, all I can do is stand here watching.

Bailey is on her bed and I can see the pain as she buries her head in her pillow. Tears cascade like a river, slowly soaking the pillow beneath her. I fall from hovering above, to standing over her, wanting to put a comforting arm around her neck, just to tell her that everything will be all right.

All I can do is stand here, wanting to reach out and help her, but I couldn't. I want nothing more than to help my friend, but that is an impossibility.

There is a knock on the door. Bailey looks up, but stays there anyway. Slowly she gets up, hesitating whether or not she should answer it. It's probably just London forgetting her key again.

After a few seconds though, she caves in goes to open the door.

It's not London though. Instead, it's one of my best friends with a surprisingly serious look on his face.

This doesn't make any sense. Woody wouldn't be the type of person to just show up like that. Yea, he could be a good friend sometimes, but he'd be the one to tell a joke to lighten the mood, not show up when someone was crying.

I stand there as silence fills the room. Every part of me wants to reach out to hold her, to tell her it's going to be all right, but I can't

"Woody, what are you doing here?" she says with her best attempt to hide the despair.

"I saw you crying and after all that's happened, you shouldn't just be in your room alone."

Bailey didn't care anymore. The tears she tried to hold back while around others started falling. Instinctively she embraced the teen who was standing in her doorway.

"Let it out," he says as he gently places his arms around her, "I'm here for you. I won't leave you." He plants a soft kiss on her cheek, which is mading her cry even more.

None of this makes any sense. I wish I knew what I could do. Do I wish that was me she was hugging instead of Woody? Am I actually jealous that my friend is the one getting all this attention? After all they had been through together, how could I not be the one she'd come running to? It just doesn't make any sense to me.

_

Cody shot up from his dream, glancing around the room to brush off the illusions of his mind. He saw his roommate sleeping soundly, but the anger from his dream hadn't subsided yet. "How could you?" he shouted, abruptly startling the Ohioan awake.

"What did I do?" the confused boy asked before running the possibilities through his mind. "Oh sorry, did I fart again in my sleep?"

Cody was angered that his friend was playing innocent; after all, he had seen him kissing her. He hadn't even gotten through with his 6-month plan yet.

Woody's words finally struck the twin, so he sniffed the air, glad that he didn't smell anything bad enough to make him gag.

"No, I saw you kissing Bailey," he said, just now realizing how absurd his statement was.

"Wow, when did this happen?" Woody said excitingly, glad that he had finally gotten his first kiss.

"In my dreams," the younger twin said softly. It was just a dream getting to him, nothing more. Bailey would be his; he knew his roommate wouldn't do anything to get in the way of that.

"Well in that case, I'm going back to sleep, maybe I can have that dream this time." Cody shook his head in response, but in the dark, he knew no one could see it. His friend had a point though; he should just go to sleep and try to forget about the dream.

_

Zack slowly traveled from the realm of his dreams back into reality, much to his disappointment. He enjoyed sleep, especially when it was 5:30 in the morning. The older twin's thoughts wouldn't slow enough for him to return to the gentle slumber, instead he just thought about the images his mind created.

Woody and Bailey were two people he never thought he'd see together, especially with Cody's plan to go out with her. He shrugged it off, dismissing it as just him eating those three slices of pepperoni pizza before bed. Although, he had done that every night since he was 13 and he hadn't had any dreams like that in the three years since.

He had heard Woody rejected several times before, many said that it wouldn't even happen in his dreams, but they never said anything about someone else's dreams. "Well at least you got to kiss someone," Zack said chuckling as he rolled over and decided he needed to be well rested to sleep in class.

_

Just like every morning, the students gathered for the breakfast buffet before school started. Cody tried acting as if nothing had happened the night before, but the thought of seeing Bailey in the arms of another man horrified him.

Logically, it was probably just his subconscious illustrating his insecurity, so he should just forget about it. Logic couldn't quell his unstable emotions though. His mind continued to wrestle with these thoughts as he made his way through the line for food, putting the supposedly edible food on his tray.

"You okay buddy?" Zack asked worriedly.

"Yeah, why?"

"Because you normally don't pour syrup on cereal," he replied, knowing there was something wrong.

"Well you do it all the time," Cody said, brushing off the comment as he grabbed a biscuit.

Zack glared at his brother as the strange actions continued. "True, but even I don't put applesauce on pancakes. Although now I might have to try it."

"Okay, you caught me," the younger twin said walking over to the table and setting his strange breakfast down. "I just had a really strange dream last night that's been bothering me."

"Well it couldn't have been stranger than the one I had," Zack said.

"You're probably right; this didn't involve aliens coming down to fight an army of zombies. It was just me seeing what looked like Bailey and Woody getting together."

"Was she crying and Woody came in to comfort her and he ended up kissing her?" Zack asked, noticing the strangeness of the situation.

The younger twin's eyes widened. How could Zack have perfectly guessed the dream he had? The only other person that knew anything about it was his roommate, and even he didn't know that. "Did you talk to Woody?"

"No, I haven't seen him yet today"

"Do you have my room bugged?"

"Not anymore," Zack replied, "I think we somehow had the same dream."

Both of the twins thought that something like that was impossible, but perhaps their twin telepathy was more than just a superstition.

"Maybe it means something then," Cody thought aloud.

"What could it be though?"

"It might be a premonition," the younger twin said unconfidently.

"A what?"

"A glance of the future. If so, then we were looking into the future and seeing them getting together," Cody explained, "Which means I don't end up with Bailey…"

"Hold on a second," Zack said, placing his hand on Cody's should trying to snap him out of his despair. "It hasn't happened yet so we can still change it."

"Do you really plan on going against fate?" Cody asked his brother, "That is if this is in fact a look into the future, which maybe highly doubtful."

"I never listen to Mom, Moseby, Tutwiler or you, why should fate be any different?" Zack said as he stood up and put his fist in the air. "It's time for operation get Cody and Bailey together!"

Cody glanced around the room, his face turning a bright red, hoping that she wasn't there. Luckily for him, she wasn't. Everyone else began clapping along with exclamations of: "At last," "Took you long enough," and "Zack you're hot" The younger twin knew the next few days would be interesting.


	2. Chapter 2: A Gentle Rain

**Chapter 2: A gentle rain**

Cody laid on his bed, racking his mind for his answer. Zack hadn't said anything about his plan since their breakfast two days ago. This meant one of two things. Either Zack had completely forgotten about their talk, which seemed quite plausible, or Zack had been thinking hard about this, which would lead to strange results.

He'd find out soon enough, but after looking at the clock, he saw he was almost late for class. As he reached to grab his backpack, his phone began vibrating. Opening it up, he saw a text message from his brother. 'My room Now.'

He wasn't sure what he should do. His brother was right, he wanted to finally win Bailey over, but he was afraid what would happen if she said no. They had a great friendship, and he didn't want to ruin it. He cared about her too much to rush into something they weren't ready for. He'd seen friendships ruined once they reached the romance level and had their first big fight. Even so it might be worth the risk, so he decided to walk across the hall and knock on his brother's door.

"Come in," a voice said and Cody walked into a completely dark room. The younger twin looked around, thinking this might be a set up for one of Zack's pranks. After a few seconds of being kept in suspense, the lights came on, and Zack swirled around in a big black chair to look at Cody. "I see you made it," he said pointing a fork at Cody.

Several logical questions came to the younger twin's mind, which he felt he had to ask, mostly involving his brother's attire. Zack was wearing a fancy suit jacket, black tie, and black top hat. While this seemed unusual to Cody, the fact that Zack was also wearing a swimsuit made absolutely no sense. "Why?" was the only coherent word to come out of the younger twin's mouth.

"This is to illustrate my plan," Zack said. "You see, this suit represents the serious hard working person that you must be to impress Bailey. The swim trunks represent the fun loving person you must be to make her not fall asleep while talking to her."

"And the fork?" Cody asked, fearing the answer.

"Quite simply, that is for eating my breakfast," Zack said as he proceeded to finish his plate of pancakes covered in applesauce, "Thanks for the suggestion by the way!"

"So, what is your plan with Bailey?" Cody asked, trying to focus his brother on the topic at hand.

"Well, we have to strike fast and nab our prize."

"Zack, she isn't just a prize."

"Yah, 'yah, so do you want my help or not."

"Fine, Cody conceded. He knew that Zack was better with girls than him, so he'd have to go along with this for now.

"Okay, so you know how the boat docks in France next Thursday?"

"Yea, what about it?"

"You get partnered up with Bailey when we explore the city, and what better place to make her fall in love than the city of romance."

"I don't know about this, besides, how are you going to make sure I get to go with her?"

"Cody, you underestimate me," Zack said with a smile, "Remember in 8th grade how you always seemed to be paired up with Agnes?"

"Yea, don't remind…wait, you did that?"

"It's amazing how easy most school's computer systems are to hack," Zack said casually.

"So that will get us together, but how to I take this from friendship to something more?" Cody asked, for once admiring his brother's ingenuity.

"Don't worry, little bro, I've thought of everything," he said putting his arm around his brother. "You will lead her through the most romantic night of her life, culminating with a dozen roses on top of the Eifel Tower overlooking the sunset."

"How are you going to manage that?"

"I know people," Zack cryptically replied, "First of all though, on your way through the city you will show her through all the various monuments and historical places."

"Yea, like where the royal family was killed during the French Revolution."

"Something like that, but remember you are trying to woo her, not bore her to death," Zack said, hoping his brother wouldn't ruin this chance he had. Although, if necessary, Zack did have a plan B

"Do you really think this is worth it though?" Cody nervously asked, "I mean, it's not like the kiss in the dream was any more than a peck on the cheek. It's probably not even real."

"Cody, listen to me. Think about it, when something goes wrong, who does she normally talk to?"

"Me,"

"And who has wanted to go out with her since he met her?"

"Me…"

"And who wasn't she with in the dream?"

"Me," Cody said softly.

"See, this is what I think, you know you could lose her if you don't do something fast, and your mind was trying to show that. And how do you know that brief kiss wasn't the start of something more, and I mean a lot more?"

"You really think, they would, you know?"

"It seems unlikely, but if you think about it, you getting someone that hot instead of me would be quite a surprise too."

"Thanks Zack," Cody replied sarcastically.

"Still, you have to go for it. You love Bailey and I'm sure she'll feel the same way about you, in fact she already might. You won't get another chance like this."

"I guess you're right," Cody said, trying to chase his nervousness away. "I can do this. A week from now, I'm going to be Bailey's boyfriend."

"That's what I like to hear."

_What have I gotten myself into?_


	3. Chapter 3: A Heavy Downpour

**A/N: This has been one of the hardest chapters I've written, so sorry for taking so long. Thanks to Woundedhearts for all her help with this chapter, and thanks to Ellie and Lody for inspiration on some of these scenes. Enjoy...**

Chap 3: A Heavy Downpour

"Now class," Ms Tutwiler said, trying to get the class' attention. "As you know, we will be docking in France and then taking a bus to downtown Paris to experience the sights, sounds, and cultural. Just to make sure you don't have too much fun though, you will each be required to take photographs of several cultural landmarks to prove that you were there. The groups for this will be, Zack and Woody, London and Holden, Cody and Bailey, and lastly, Addison and Becky. We will meet in the class room at 9AM tomorrow morning, so don't be late or you will be left behind."

The bell rang, signaling the end of the class. The students quickly ran out of the room before the teacher could come up with anything else to add.

"Ugh, I hate Paris," London said as she and her roommate returned to their room.

"Why, it's such a beautiful city."

"Yeah, but then it named itself after that air headed hotel heiress who thinks she better than me. Too bad London was already taken."

"Um, I don't think that's why-"

"You want to get a manicure?" London asked, abruptly changing the subject.

"No, I have homework I have to finish before tomorrow."

"Well, while you do that, I have important stuff to do," London said as she merrily went on her way.

_

"Has the milkshake been stirred?" a teen with blond hair and a suit asked as he stood upon the sky deck.

"Plan D7 is underway," another teen with brown bushy hair said.

"Very good," the first teen turned around facing his accomplice while stroking a small furry animal.

"Um, Zack, why do you have Ivana?" Woody asked.

"Way to ruin the moment dude," Zack said putting the dog back on the ground.

"Oh, sorry, but why did you have Ivana?"

"Well, Renney said I should have had a cat when I told Cody about my plan."

"Wait, she's part of the plan too?" Woody asked.

"Oh, none of this would be happening without her."

_

Cody felt his heart pounding against his chest as he walked to the classroom that day. His hands were shaking so badly that he had already dropped the camera twice, luckily not breaking it. Today would be the day his life changed forever. He just hoped it would be in the way that he wanted.

"Hey Cody, you ready to see Paris?" Bailey joyfully asked. She had always loved learning about different culture around the world, especially since before coming on the ship she had rarely left Kettlecorn.

He swallowed, trying to calm his voice. "Yeah, this will be great." He just hoped Zack's ideas would really work. The ship had reached France during the night and Zack had already set everything up, though he refused to tell Cody any of the details.

"I can't believe I was paired up with someone who is so into the French culture," Bailey exclaimed as they sat down and waited for their teacher.

"Yeah, it has such a rich history, from the foundations in the fifth century, to the age of Imperialism, and the French Revolution, and the Napoleonic era."

"Calm down buddy," Zack said walking up to his brother, "Let's not get so wrapped up in the history that we forget to have fun."

"History can be fun," Cody declared.

"Wow, Cody, you're almost as funny as me," Zack said as Tutwiler walked into the room.

_

Cody couldn't believe how fast the time flew. It seemed like only seconds ago that they were boarding the bus. In order to prevent Cody from fainting, Zack had tried to calm his brother down on the bus ride to Paris by watching the Matrix with him. The movie seemed to distract him, at least until they pulled up to the bus station in Paris. "Hey Cody, you ready to go see the city of lights?" Bailey asked as they got off the bus.

"Yeah, this should be a lot of fun. I was thinking we should hit the famous Louvre Museum of Art first."

"Isn't that where they keep the Mona Lisa?" Bailey asked eagerly.

"Yeah, but it's also a historic landmark. Did you know that the building was originally a military fortress in the 12th century?"

"Well, while you two enjoy that boring stuff, me and Woody are going to try finding some hot French babes," Zack said as he dragged his friend away.

"What? I thought we were going to get some French food, like French fries, French toast and French bread," Woody whined.

"You know those aren't really French foods, don't you?" Cody asked.

"Don't worry, I'm sure we can find some of them," Zack said as the two of them went out randomly in a direction.

Cody and Bailey just shrugged their shoulders. "So, we just need to go a kilometer down this road and we'll reach the museum," he said pointing at one of the street signs.

"Lead the way then."

_

"Wow, I can't believe how big this is; this museum is larger than all of Kettlecorn."

"Yeah, we could easily spend a week here and still not see anything," Cody agreed, in awe of the treasures of the past.

"Where do you think we should start?"

"How about the Egyptian antiquities?"

"Yeah that should be fun," Bailey agreed and the two of them walked down one of the many corridors.

The hours flew by as they carefully examined each piece. Both of them were amazed that the other knew so much about Egyptian art. Not even the museum workers could compete with the teens' vast knowledge. Cody would frequently correct the workers flawed knowledge of the difference between the Egyptian dynasties. Eventually, they decided they could learn more just by exploring the museum without the guides.

After several hours admiring the art, Cody looked down at his watch to see that it was already 7:30. "Wow, we've been here for four hours!" the twin exclaimed.

"And we haven't even gotten through this section," Bailey said, disappointed that there was so much they still hadn't seen.

"I guess we should leave then, after all we want to see the Eifel tower; I've heard it's beautiful at night."

"Sure, let's go then."

_

"You think we should go to the top," Bailey asked once they were at the massive tower's base.

Cody felt his phone vibrate, and opened it up, revealing the text from Zack. 'Send her up' "Sure, let's go," he said, acting like nothing strange was going on.

"Going up?" a Frenchman asked who was operating the elevator.

"Yes please," Cody said and they entered the elevator that would take them to the top. As they ascended, the operator told them some of the history of the tower, but Cody didn't hear any of it. All he wanted was for the doors to open and for her to see the sunset from 896 feet in the air.

The door opened, revealing a table overlooking the window, covered in a scarlet tablecloth. A candle gently flickered in the middle with music gently playing in the background. Two plates were set on the table, filled covered with whine-poached salmon with white truffles, along with several gougéres that filled the room with a fragrant aroma.

"Cody…is this for me?" she couldn't believe her senses.

"Care to dance?" Cody asked holding his hand out to her. He couldn't believe he had actually been able to say that with a straight face, practicing all morning in the mirror had paid off.

Bailey stared at him; her mind unable to comprehend all that was going on around her. Her mind had shut off, her heart was screaming and her tongue was unable to form words.

He swallowed, waiting for her response. He knew it, she was going to say no, she was going to run away in tears, she was going to catch the next flight back to Kansas and never want to see him again.

Bailey's heart finally reconnected with her brain and she remembered how to talk. She was almost certain that this was a dream, but even if it was, she had to embrace this chance while she had it.

"Okay," she answered softly, placing her hand gently in hers.

Cody snapped in fingers and a cd switched to one of his favorite love songs, 'Brown Eyed Girl by Van Morrison.'

__

Whatever happened

To Tuesday and so slow

Going down the old mine

With a transistor radio

Standing in the sunlight laughing,

Hiding behind a rainbow's wall,

Slipping and sliding

All along the waterfall, with you

My brown eyed girl,

You my brown eyed girl.

Do you remember when we used to sing,

Sha la la la la la la la la la la te da.

Bailey placed her other hand on his shoulder and they slowly danced in the sunset lit room. As they spun, he found himself gazing into her dark brown eyes. He couldn't believe everything had gone so perfectly so far, she said yes, she didn't smack him across the face; she was here in his arms. "Bailey," he whispered.

"Don't say anything, just dance," she replied, lost in his crystal blue irises. A smile larger than anything she felt before came across her face, feeling so secure in Cody's arms.

The song ended too soon, but Bailey quickly noticed everything else he had planned. Between her empty stomach and the delicious aroma filling the air, her eyes found their way back to the delicious French cuisine.

"Did you do all this for me?"

"Are you hungry?" he asked, ignoring her question but noticing her gaze.

"Yeah, we haven't eaten anything since breakfast this morning," she responded.

"Then enjoy," Cody said, pulling out the chair and allowing Bailey to sit down.

"Are these really gougéres,"

"Yeah, I remember you saying how you loved French foods like them," he said nervously as she took a bite of the pastry.

Her eyes lit up as the flavors tantalized her taste buds. With the aroma filling her nostrils along the sweet and flaky pastry in her mouth, she didn't think she'd ever tasted something so good. "I knew you were a good cook, but this is amazing!"

"Try the rest of the dinner," he suggested happily, glad that everything was going so well. He'd have to find a recipe for them.

Bailey couldn't believe how wonderful the dinner was, she knew that Paris was known as the city of lights, but she didn't know it was also the city of delicious foods.

"So Cody," she said, trying to get the question out of him, "You didn't do this just because we were friends, did you?"

He knew this time was going to come soon enough. All his hard work would pay off here. He just had to ask one simple question. "Yeah, Bailey, please go out with me, I promise this will only be the beginning."

"I don't know how to put this," she said with a smirk as she got up from her chair." His heart beat faster; had everything he had done been for nothing? She walked around the table and put her arm on his shoulder. "I think this should explain it." She leaned down next to him, their faces just inches apart. She leaned in, pressing her lips against hers, and they kissed.

After a couple seconds, she backed away slowly. "Is that a good enough answer for you?"

He could only nod his head in response. During that kiss, his brain completely forgot how from words.

They stood there for a second in silence, staring out at the sunset that bathed the sky in crimson red. No words were needed to convey how they thought; they wanted this moment to last forever.

"Well, we better be getting back," Cody said, noticing the sun has almost completely disappeared under the horizon."

"Yeah," Bailey agreed with a twinge of sadness in her voice. She couldn't believe the night she had. Not only did she get to learn about French culture and get the visit one of the most famous museums in the world, but she also learned that the man of her dreams liked her as much as she did him. "Thanks for everything Cody," she said as they stepped onto the elevator do descend back down to earth.

After returning the ground level, the sun shone in their faces, nearly completely gone. The sky still held a shade of red as the colors battled the black of night for control of the sky. The teens shadow's stretched out like taffy among the windings streets of the city. Nature itself seemed to be congratulating them. Between the beautiful scene before him and the beautiful girl beside him, Cody had only one thought. _'Zack, you're awesome.'_


	4. Chapter 4: Flashes of Lightning

**A/N:** I want to thank WoundedHeart's for betaing as always and Renny for the inspiration for this story and allowing me to use her as a character here.

**Chapter 4: Flashes of Lightning**

"Good night Bailey," Cody said as he gently kissed her cheek. After their perfect night in Paris, they barely made their way back to the ship in time. Now they stood in front of Bailey's cabin counting the seconds they had left until curfew would separate them and end the most incredible night of their lives.

"Tomorrow at six, right?" she said confirming their dinner plans in the town where they were docked.

"Of course, I look forward to seeing you there," he said sweetly.

"Night Cody," she said closing the door behind her.

As the younger twin walked back to his room, he knew there was one other person he had to see before resting after such an exciting day, Zack. There were times when his brother annoyed him to no end. But then there were other times such as this one, where he was truly grateful for having Zack as his brother and best friend.

Once he reached his twin's room, he knocked, hoping he hadn't already fallen asleep.

"So how was your night?" the older twin asked as he opened the door, knowing the answer as soon as he saw the smile cross Cody's face.

"Zack you're awesome! I love you so much I could kiss you!"

"Thanks, but I think you should save the kissing for Bailey."

"You know what I mean," Cody said as he embraced his brother in a hug. "So how did you pull it off?"

"Well, it first involved talking to London to see if she knew how Bailey felt about you. It turns out she was just as crazy about you, and just as scared to say anything and ruin your friendship. I was able to convince London to help pay for everything when I told her that if you two were going out, she'd have the room to herself more often. Then there was the matter of making sure the top of the tower was empty which was managed with some complaints to the health inspector and a short term stink bomb made sure no one else would try to get up there. You'll have to thank Woody for that part of the plan."

"So it wasn't just you," the younger twin said finally pulling away from his brother.

"Cody, I wasn't going to let you blow it with Bailey due to me not planning everything right. I figured I'd let your own dorkiness take care of that."

"Thanks, I think…"

"Well, it's getting late and that big history paper is due tomorrow so you should probably be getting back to your room."

"I finished several days ago."

"Well that makes one of us, so get out of my room so I can get to writing.

"Okay, see you tomorrow Zack."

* * *

After class that day, Zack went to his job at the ship's smoothie bar. He looked around the deck for his brother the towel boy, but he was nowhere to be found. It was then that he remembered Cody had the day off. "Probably off with his new girlfriend discussing calculus or something boring like that," he said to himself while throwing various fruits into the blender. If there was one thing he loved about the job other than flirting with all the girls, it was the free drinks he could make for himself whenever Moseby wasn't around.

"Hey Zack!"

"Oh hi Addiso-"

"Did you know that Cody and Bailey are going out now wow talk about a surprise who would have thought that he would be the first one of you to actually get a girlfriend on bored especially with you flirting with everyone on-"

"Addison, what can I get you?" Zack said, breaking through her very hyper rant.

"Um, give me a smoothie with strawberry, orange, mango, grape, watermelon, banana, blueberry, raspberry, and apple."

"Got it, one of everything," Zack said tossing everything but the kitchen sink into the blender. He wondered how something this odd would turn out, so he made a note to make one for himself later. "Okay next," Zack said turning to Kirby who was next in line. "No Kirby, we don't have bacon smoothies."

"I still say you should add it, but that's not why I'm here. I'm here for the five dollars you owe me."

"Oh hang on a sec," Zack said putting a hand in his pocket to grab his wallet. "Uh-oh."

"You don't have it?" The security guard asked.

"My wallet's missing."

"Well where is it?"

"I'm pretty sure when I said it was _missing_ that meant I didn't know." Zack tried thinking back to the last couple days to see when he could have lost it. If he had it last night, he would have put it in his shoe along with his phone when he went to bed, which meant he had to have lost it sometime during the previous day. He had it when he tried to impress Stacy by buying her that snow globe. Then after that he went to Moseby's office to hack the computer system to make sure all the pairs were set up for the field trip along with changing a couple of his grades. He remembered having to hide under the desk when Moseby came in to check something, which meant it probably fell out of his pocket then. "I got it!"

"The money?"

"No but I'll have it for you tomorrow." Zack knew he had to get the wallet out of Moseby's office before he found it or the manager would send him to military school for sure. Even so, he couldn't leave the smoothie bar with all the customers coming. He'd need some help to pull this off.

He pulled out his phone to call his friends. "Hey Woodchip, can you do me a favor?"

"Not now Zack. It was a bad idea to eat 28 scrambled eggs for breakfast."

Zack quickly hung up the phone not wanting any more details of his friend's ordeal. He decided Cody would be his next best bet, especially after what he did for his brother last night, Cody couldn't say no. "Zack, I thought you were working?" he answered.

"Yeah, but I kind of need your help with something."

"What is it?"

"Can you sneak into Moseby's office and get my wallet?"

"I'm supposed to meet Bailey in town for dinner soon."

"Don't worry, it won't take long. Just when you see him leave the office, run in and get it from under his desk them bring it to me."

"How do you know he is going to leave?"

"Don't worry about it, I know people."

He quickly hung up his phone before his brother could say no and dialed the next number on it. "Reney, it's time for operation S-M-O-D."

"Do you have what I want?"

"Don't worry; you'll be close enough to feel his opponent's blood."

"Awesome, I'll get my sombrero and be up there soon."

* * *

"Moseby, we've got a problem on the sky deck," a frantic Kirby said bursting into the manager's office.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"Well a teenage guest is singing very loudly on top of the hot tub while dancing with a sombrero, and she is scaring the guests away."

"And why didn't you stop her?" he said, annoyed that his security officer couldn't handle something as simple as this.

"She scares me too," Kirby honestly replied, "And I figure you're the scariest person on the ship, so you could probably handle it."

Moseby looked down at the pile of papers, knowing he wouldn't be able to finish them with all the interruptions, but he also knew the only way to get Kirby to leave him alone was to fix this mess himself. "Fine, I'll take care of it," he said exiting the room with Kirby following behind him.

"I don't want to know what Zack has going on up there," Cody said to himself as he watched the two leave the office. He knew Zack had found some way to get Moseby to leave his office, but he didn't know how, and frankly he didn't want to know.

Once he was sure that the two were gone, he ran to the office door and tried opening it, but to no avail. He then pulled Zack's master key out of his pocket and opened the door with it wondering how Zack managed to acquire all these strange things. He was glad that he got it from his brother earlier though after that cell phone incident.

After quickly checking under Moseby's desk, he found Zack's signature duct tape wallet. Cody was a little surprised at how well Zack's plan worked, but wasn't complaining. He left the room, careful not to disturb anything else and made his way back to the sky deck.

* * *

'_I remember black skies, the lightning all around me_

_I remember each flash as time began to blur_

_Like a startling sign fate had finally found me_

_And you're voice was all I heard, that I get what I deserve'_

Reney's singing of Linkin Park's New Divide filled the sky deck, overpowering the sound of any conversations. Small children hid behind their parents and the squeamish fled for cover.

"Ma'am you need to calm down and stop scaring away the other guests," Moseby said trying to appease the possibly mentally unstable teen.

"SHHUUTTTT UUUPPP!" she yelled before finding a metal chair and demonstrating a new way to use it, while at the same time giving the manager a severe headache.

"Kirby, restrain her!" Moseby ordered.

"Are you ready?" she said with a smirk before sprinting away with the security guard chasing after her and Moseby threatening various means of illegal punishments.

"Was that your doing?" Cody asked only catching the end of Reney's strange actions.

"Well I traded her front row seats to wrestle mania in exchange for helping get Moseby out of his office."

"Yep, nothing like a crazed teenage girl with a weird obsession for grown men beating the crap out of each other, to come and save the day." Reney said stopping temporarily in front of the smoothie bar. "Anyway, send the tickets to my room, where I'm sure I'll be for the rest of this cruise."

"You have some strange friends," Cody said.

"And I wouldn't have it any other way," Zack responded, "Anyway, don't you have a date with Bailey tonight?"

"Yeah, I'm supposed to meet her at 6 for dinner in town."

"You realize it's already 5:58," the older twin said looking down at his watch.

"Crap, I can't believe I'm going to be late for my first date with her."

"Well all you need to do is get some flowers and tell her that you were trying hard to find ones perfect enough to match her beauty." Zack suggested. "Since you're late do to helping me, I'll even buy them for you."

"Oh, thanks Zack. Why are you being so nice to me all of a sudden?"

"Does there have to be a hidden motive, can't I just help my twin brother out of the goodness of my heart?"

"Zack, what did you do?" Cody eyed him with suspicion while fear filled his body.

"Um, let's go get those flowers," Zack said dragging his twin with him to the elevator, hoping to distract him from any further interrogation. "I remember seeing a nice flower shop near where the boat is docked."

"Great then I can give them to her outside the birthplace of Gabriel Monod the famous historian before we head to one of their famous authentic French cafés," Cody said as he and his brother headed down toward the exit of the boat.

"Only you would turn a date into studying."

* * *

"Come on, what's taking so long?" Zack asked as his brother carefully examined each flower in the store's cooler. "Just get her a dozen roses and she'll be happy."

"I'm trying to find the perfect Lily since it is the national flower of France."

"Such a dork," he mumbled to himself. "What about these?" Zack picked up a bundle of flowers, hoping his brother would be satisfied with them.

"Zack, those are carnations."

"Close enough, right? Besides we don't want to keep your lovely lady waiting any longer."

"You're right," Cody said before grabbing the flowers he was examining and heading for the door.

"Good, I just want to get out of this cold room."

"Uh, Zack, the door won't open," Cody said as he tried turning the knob but it was stuck.

"You just have to put some muscle into it," Zack said as he too tried fiddling with the handle, but to no avail.

"You think Bailey will believe that we were stuck in a cooler of a flower shop. So that's why I missed our date?" Cody asked sitting on the floor trying to think of a way out of this.

"All we have to do is break out of here and you won't have to worry about that. Now help me ram the door."

Cody nodded and he and his brother backed up against the far side of the room and ran at the door as fast as they could, slamming into it with enough force to throw them onto their backs. However, the door remained shut.

"Any ideas that don't involve hurting myself?" Cody asked as he got back to his feet while rubbing his bruised shoulder.

"Just one." Zack said. He walked to the door and began pounding on it as hard as he could while screaming, "Help, help, it's cold, my brother will kill me if he's late for his date, so get me out of here!"

For once, Cody had to agree with Zack and began screaming too, hoping that someone would hear them. "Well, what do we have here?" a man said from the other side of the door.

"Thanks goodness, can you let us out of here?" Zack said with relief filling both twins.

"Don't worry, you will be out of there soon enough," the stranger said.

However, unlike the door opening like they thought, the room began to shake, throwing both twins to the ground. "What was that?" Cody asked. A burst of thunder filled their ears, and the lights in the room went out. "This could be bad," the younger twin said trying to figure out what was going on.

"Cody, look," Zack said pointing up at the ceiling.

"Is that light?"

"I think that's actually fire," Zack said running to the door and trying to force it open but still to no avail. The fire was small, only burning in the upper corner of the room, but it seemed to be growing.

"There's one there too!" Cody exclaimed while pointing to the opposite corner.

"This could be bad," Zack said as fear and worry began consuming him.

The younger twin looked around for something to put it out, deciding that the water the flowers were resting in would work. He tossed the flowers on the floor and threw the water onto the fire, but to his surprise, the flame only grew. "Uh-oh." he nervously backed away from the fire and closer to Zack, who still couldn't get the door open.

"Let us out!" Zack screamed. The twins were blown away from the door when it too became engulfed in flames. "Dang that hurts," he said sticking his burnt hand into a nearby watering can to quell the raging pain.

"What's going on Zack?" Cody asked, fear filling every syllable.

"I…I don't know." With the door in front of them enflamed along with the wall behind them, they saw no way out. "Is there an air vent or something we can get to, so we can crawl out of here?" Zack asked, frantically searching the room for any means of escape. The fire was growing at an alarming rate, spreading to all four walls. What was once a cold room now was sweltering hot, causing sweat to pour down both twins' bodies.

"Up there!" Cody screamed pointing to the vent.

"Cody, get on my shoulders and get up there," Zack ordered.

"What about you?"

"Just get out to the lobby and find a fire extinguisher or call the fire department or something then we can both get out of here."

"Okay," Cody said, not wanting to leave his brother but knew they didn't have a choice. Zack crouched down, allowing Cody to climb on top of him before carefully standing up. Between the raging heat all around them and the weight on his shoulders, he was far from comfortable, but if he could get Cody away safely, it would all be worth it. Nothing else mattered.

The younger twin began pulling the vent cover off, but once he finally got it off, he fell backwards knocking both him and Zack to the ground. They landed on their heads, causing the room to spin. Combined with the heat, they felt their vision start to fade. "I'm scared Zack."

"Me too buddy."

**To be continued…**

**A/N: Now do you believe I'd write something like this?**


	5. Chapter 5: Rolls of Thunder

**A/N: Thanks as always to WoundedHearts for betaing**

**Chapter 5: Rolls of thunder**

Bailey looked down at her watch noticing it was already 6:45. She sighed wondering if he would ever show up. Cody was supposed to have been there 45 minutes ago, but there was still no sign of him. She was shocked when he wasn't there early, and even more so with each passing minute. It wasn't like him to be late or forget about something this important. She knew something had to have happened to keep him.

Getting up from her seat, she paid the clerk for the drink she had and began walking back toward the ship. Most people would be angry if their boyfriend stood them up on their first date, but she was more worried than mad. For as long as she had known Cody, he'd always been there for her. If he'd gone through all that to get her to go out with him there would be no way he'd just stand her up on the first date. She was really worried for him.

Walking down the street, she saw a fire in the distance with smoke filling the sky. "Oh no," she said softly to herself. Several fire trucks zoomed past her calming her fears. She just hoped that everyone was okay. A blaze like that could change someone's life in a matter of seconds.

She quickly forgot about the fire though once she made it back to the ship. The first thing she did once on board, was run to Cody's room and pound on his door. However, after waiting for a response for several minutes, she figured he must not be there. Instead, she went across the hall to Zack's room. She thought he might be with his brother or at the very least Zack would know where he was. However, there was still no response.

She was genuinely worried now, but she refused to give into her panic, at least not yet. After all, there had to be a perfectly good reason why Cody missed their date and why neither he nor Zack were in their rooms.

The next person she thought to ask would be her roommate. After all, she had known the twins for many years so they could be with her. He'd give Cody a piece of her mind for missing the date, but at least that would mean Cody was alright.

"How'd the date go?" London asked once she entered their room.

"He never showed up," Bailey answered. There went that theory.

"You should probably dump him," London answered thinking back to all the times guys had stood her up.

"I'm sure there's a good reason for him not being there," Bailey said in his defense. "So you haven't heard anything from him then London?"

She merely shook her head no.

"In that case I'm going to keep looking," Bailey told her.

Once she left her room, she tried thinking about all the other places he could be. She remembered that Woody was sick the night before due to some food poisoning, so maybe that got to Cody too. Those shrimp had caused problems before, so maybe it happened again. So she then decided to pay the infirmary a visit.

* * *

"Hey Bailey, what are you doing here?" Woody asked seeing her come in the door.

"Looking for Cody," she said softly.

"Why, is he okay?"

"I'll tell you once he gives me an explanation for missing our date."

"That's not like him at all."

"I know." Bailey had already tried talking to all the people who might be with them, so she was getting worried. It's not like people just randomly disappear off the face of the earth.

"Have you asked Zack where he was?"

"Couldn't find him either."

"London?"

"She hadn't seen him."

"Moseby?"

"It's worth a shot," Bailey said shrugging her shoulders. Maybe he hadn't been able to get off work or had to help with something on the ship. Although the least he could do was call.

* * *

"Hey Moseby?" she asked hesitantly as she opened the door to his office.

"Can I help you with something Bailey?" he said still focused on the papers lying on his desk.

"Well I was wondering if you had seen Cody recently."

"I think I saw him on the sky deck about an hour and a half ago, why?"

"Well, he was supposed to meet me for a date an hour ago and never showed up, and no one else had seen him."

"That's not like him," Moseby said echoing her thoughts.

"Any idea where he could be?" she asked.

Moseby tried to think of another place Cody could be, but before he could offer any suggestions, his phone rang. "Hold on just a second," he said as he answered his phone.

"Marion Moseby, ship manager at your service."

"Yes, they are students on the ship," he answered the person on the other line.

The manager's eyes widened and his hand went straight to his heart. "Are you sure, I mean do you know it's them?" he frantically asked. He ran for his chair and began breathing heavily. Bailey could swear she saw a tear fall down his cheek. It was rare for her to see Moseby show emotion, well except for anger but that was normally reserved the trouble making students.

"I guess it couldn't really be any others then. Th-thank you for calling." Moseby hung up the phone and let his head fall into his hands. To her complete shock, he began sobbing uncontrollably.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

He didn't know how to respond, especially after getting such terrible news. He wanted to lie to her, to come up with a story that would make everything better. He knew though, that he had to tell her and that lying wouldn't do anything to change what happened. "A man called asking if I knew Zack and Cody." He paused for a second and she nodded. She knew that something terrible must have happened to affect Moseby in that way. "There was a horrible fire in town today, apparently lightning struck the flower shop where the twins were," he said somberly.

"Are they okay?" she frantically asked.

Moseby gently shook his head. "The fire was too fast and neither of them could escape." The manager could hardly bring himself to utter the next words. "They both died."

"No. No, it has to be a mistake. Maybe it was someone else." This couldn't have been happening. Just a day ago, Cody had made her the happiest girl in the world, and now he was gone. No, this was impossible.

"They found their id cards on the bodies. They couldn't be anyone else."

Bailey couldn't accept it. It was impossible that the man of her dreams had really died in just a random fire. No, it couldn't be true; there was no way. It was just a cruel joke; it had to be. Zack must have put them all up to this, to mess with her. She was on one of those hidden camera shows, that was it, anything but the fact that they were both dead.

"Bailey, are you okay?" Moseby said as he stood and gently wrapped an arm around her.

"No, it can't be true," she said shaking her head as the tears fell staining the manager's suit. He didn't care that such a superficial item was ruined, when two people he cared about deeply were taken from this world.

**One week later**

"You in there?"

Bailey was half-asleep when a voice woke her. She'd been doing that a lot lately, drifting between the realms of sleep and reality for hours on end. "Yeah, door's open," she softly said.

"Well here is the homework Tutwiler assigned today," Woody said setting several pages on Bailey's desk. He was about to leave, but he knew he had to do something for his friend, so he sat her on bed and gently placed his hand on her shoulder. "You okay?"

She shook her head in response. How could anyone be okay after something like that? Tears began pouring down her cheek, covering her pillow in a small puddle. She couldn't believe there were any tears left in her eyes.

"Don't cry; Cody wouldn't want you to just lay here in bed."

"Cody," she said softly. It was the name that brought her so much happiness; ever since they first met, she felt something for him and was so happy when they were finally together. It was also the name that brought her so much sorrow, with his untimely death.

"Yeah, he'd want you to get out in the world and live, to go win those Nobel prizes for peace, science, and baking for him."

"You think so?" she asked.

"Yeah, and I know Zack would want me to continue pranking the ship for him, so I'm not going to let him down, and you shouldn't let Cody down either."

"You might have a point," Bailey said as a smile came to her face for the first time in the week.

"Of course, how could anyone question the great Woodman?"

She sat up and embraced her friend in a hug. "Whatever you say Woodman."

"How about dinner on the sky deck followed by putting itching powder in Kirby's underwear? It has to be better than sitting in your room crying all night."

"That actually sounds like fun."


	6. Chapter 6: Wasteland

**A/N: This update is part of my celebration for being on the site for 5 years! That's right; on April 30 5 years ago I made this account, so today I have decided to update all of my stories that are in progress. This does not mean that more updates will be coming soon if ever though.**

**And here is Blaze. Out of all the stories I abandoned, perhaps this was the worst place to do one. I mean, after the cliffhanger at the end of 4 and 5, there had to be more. So this answers a few questions. Granted it asks about 10 times as many. I had wanted to try to get this story to progress further, get to a point where I could close things up without too much longer, but I can't see it happening with a story like this. There might be more updates someday, but probably not anytime soon. Thanks for all the support you have given me for this story, and sorry for leaving you like I did.**

**Thanks to Wyntirsno for betaing.**

**Blaze Chapter 6: Wasteland**

Eyes flashed open, pain filling each nerve.

Was he sleepy?

No.

Then why was he asleep?

He wasn't sure.

All he knew was the pain. All around him, it was as if he was burnt all around. Each movement triggered another stinging sensation, his jeans rubbing against his legs, even his shirt against his chest. Something was terribly wrong; he couldn't even get up from his position on the ground.

"Cody?" the voice questioned, one he instantly knew as Zack. He turned, nearly crying at the pain as it erupted along his shoulder.

"What?"

"Can you walk?"

He shook his head.

"Come on," Zack said, bending down beside his brother, lifting him back to his feet despite Cody's cries of pain at the movement. "You'll be fine."

Cody didn't know how that could even happen, every part of his body was scorching, it was as if he was on fire, the flames digging into his flesh, tearing into his bone. He closed his eyes, while his feet hit the ground, slowly moving forward with each step.

He knew he wasn't moving himself; Zack had to be carrying all the weight. Still, he tried moving, not wanting to be that much of a burden, but knew he didn't have much choice. He felt the rock beneath his feet, the almost unnatural hardness to it. Through his shoes, he could make out some sharp places, sure that were he to be barefoot, they'd slash him.

"Almost there buddy."

"Where?" Cody asked, his voice hoarse, barely a whisper. Only then did he notice how thirsty he was, parched for anything to drink. Opening his mouth letting some sweat drip into it, the saltiness making him crave water.

"You'll see."

Cody tried opening his eyes, the pain still there just as bad as before. He tried not letting it get to him, pushing it out of his thoughts, but every time he did so, it just came roaring back, burying deeper into his soul. But still, he knew he had to find out just where he was, even if he could only open his eyes for seconds at a time.

He saw he was in a vast wasteland, the ground below him an orangish red; as if it was on fire itself. The rocky terrain was uneven, fragments of what used to be plants were spread out sparsely. He tried raising his eyes toward the horizon, but much to his dismay, nothing changed. A red sun beat down from behind him, its rays already scorching the back of his neck and arms, the only things not covered by clothing. He got sunburnt easily, and knew it was just a matter of time before that would happen to him if they didn't find shelter soon.

The blistering sky, dyed with an orange much like the ground, was almost too much as a small cluster of clouds danced by, providing no relief.

"Here," Zack said, letting Cody fall off his shoulder and onto the ground below. He tried stretching out to loosen his stiff muscles, but only felt his arm torn by sharp rock sticking out. He recoiled back from it, the swift action only causing him more pain.

"What is it?" he asked, his head spinning as he tried to not fall over again.

Before Zack could answer, a torrent of water overtook him. Where it came from Cody couldn't tell, nor where it was going. But with it came relief, awakening, calmness, and a sense of peace. For the first time, he didn't feel like fire was burning his soul, and he took in heavy breaths, just allowing the water to wash over him.

But then he remembered.

He questioned.

He asked, "What happened to us?"

"I don't know man," Zack said with a distant shrug of his shoulders. I mean, we were going to get you flowers for your date, and then all of a sudden that place caught fire, and then we're here."

Cody looked around, this place not looking like anything that could exist on earth. Even if this was one of the deserts, the sun and sky being this color didn't make any sense.

"Do you think," Cody gulped, fearing that he could be right, "We're dead?"

"Nah, it can't be," Zack answered, more out of hope than reason. But not even he could deny the possibility that they had passed out from the flames, and that no one had come to rescue them in time. It made perfect sense after all. Too much sense. "But if we were dead…"

Cody knew the unsaid conclusion. "This can't be heaven." Everything he had heard about heaven was that it was a place of peace, a big place in the clouds, or a city beyond his wildest imagination. Even if he wasn't that religious, he couldn't deny being interested in the study of what happened after death. But this, it was nothing like any heaven he could imagine.

"I know. Are we in hell Cody?"

"Maybe." Cody didn't want to consider that possibility. But it was sure possible. It wasn't something he ever thought could happen. Even if there was such a thing as heaven and hell, surely he'd go to heaven. He was a good person, he hadn't killed anyone, hardly even lied. He wasn't perfect, but he deserved something better than everlasting punishment.

As Cody thought about this, where they were, what they should do from here, the water that had covered him faded away, something Cody was sad to see happen. But it made him feel better, at least he wasn't in pain any more, and he was able to get back up to his feet. As he fully took in the environment, he knew that things wouldn't be easy. He still had the scratch on his arm but it had stopped bleeding.

"How'd you know to bring me here?"

"A guy told me to," Zack answered. He knew it wasn't a good enough answer to satisfy his brother's curiosity, it didn't even satisfy his own. But when told that it could help his brother, Zack didn't think about questioning it.

"Any idea where he went?"

"Nope, sorry."

The two of them stared out in the distance, looking for what to do now. Was this hell, just an endless expanse of nothing? Or was there something they were supposed to find? Of course, that was assuming this really was hell. Could it be they were just jumping to conclusions, giving into panic?

"We shouldn't just sit here doing nothing though," Zack said and Cody nodded. Heck, Cody had a date he had to get back for. After all that time, he actually got her to go out with him, and there was no way he was going to stand her up on their first date.

"Where though?"

Zack looked up to the sky, seeing where the sun was in the sky, over the horizon. "Well, it appears that the sun is setting, so that means that way is west. Because of how hot it is here, we should probably try heading east, until we find something."

"Wow Zack, you actually paid attention in class to know that?"

"No, saw it on some kind of zombie movie, and figured it made enough sense to try it." Zack started walking in a direction, and Cody saw how hot it really was here. At first, he thought it was due to burns on him, but it had to be at least 90 degrees here, possibly even more. After resting in that water for a while, he wasn't thirsty, but was sure they'd need to find a stable source of water soon, and there was no telling how cold it could get at night.

"Good enough for me." Even if Zack's guess were just that, a guess; it would get them somewhere. Maybe not anywhere helpful, but at this point, standing around wouldn't get them anything.

As they walked, Cody noticed that the place of death he thought was so stagnant contained life. Bugs of some kind came out for a few seconds among the rocks, some bigger than spiders, some so small he could barely see them. He heard a caw of a bird in the distance causing him to jump back. But they kept going, the endless desert continuing no matter how many miles they walked. And it wasn't long before their legs began wearing out.

"We need to rest soon," Zack said, his body completely covered with sweat.

Cody agreed, though at this point, there didn't seem to be any safe place to rest. He hoped they could find a town, or a cave, or at least some type of oasis. Though searching the horizon, there was no shelter to be found, of any kind, for as far as the eye could see.

"I guess this is as good a place as any."

"Sounds good to me," Zack said, lying on the ground, grateful for the pressure off his legs. He took his shirt off, using it as a pillow, far more tired than he had been in a while. He had thought about having one of them stand guard in case something, or someone found them, but knew that they wouldn't be in much condition to fight if that's what it came to.

"Night Zack," Cody said, not as willing to fall asleep so soundly. There was something more that happened to them than just appearing in this hell. He knew from studying religion that people shouldn't just be placed here with nowhere to go. That's not what happened in Dante's Inferno, there was no record of this in the Bible. This wasn't what would normally happen when someone died, of that much he was sure.

But what did happen?

And he was still with Zack? Was there some bond twins shared that placed them with each other? Was it only because they died together? He'd rather not spend all of eternity with Zack that much was for sure. And his body felt like his normal one, he felt like he could die still, so if that happened, then what? Maybe that was just an illusion brought on by his own assumptions, maybe he was reading too much into it. Still, Zack might have had the right idea. It would be better to rest now, so they could continue their journey tomorrow. They'd sure have plenty of time to discuss it then.

Cody rested on his back, looking up at the twilight sky. As the red sun disappeared over the horizon, the sky above was filled with streaks of blue and green against black. Even the stars that shown in the distance seemed to be of different colors, some blue, a few red, even some scattered greens. He tried thinking about light, and what could be causing that strange phenomenon, but didn't have time to dwell on it long. He rested his head in his arms, and then fell asleep beside his brother.

…

"Master, they've arrived."

"Is the plan set?"

"Yes, they are still too lost to suspect anything."

…

Crickets.

Only thousands of them.

That was the sound that broke Zack out of his slumber. He had forgotten where he was for a moment, wondering why his alarm was set to such a strange tone, but upon opening his eyes, he saw how terribly off he was.

"Cody!" Zack yelled. In a semi-circle, half a dozen bugs stood before them. They were like locusts, wings beating loudly, but they were nearly four feet tall, six feet long. Their claws seemed to carve their way through the rock as they inched forward.

Cody's eyes opened at the sound, and he saw what terrified Zack so much. He stumbled back to his feet, nearly falling, but Zack's hand around his arm stabilized him.

"Think their friendly?"

A mighty roar from one of them was all Zack needed for an answer.

"Run?"

"Sounds like a plan," Zack answered.

The two of them took off, not caring what direction they were heading in, only hoping that the giant insects wouldn't follow them; but only a few feet behind them, the creatures pursued them.


End file.
